Late Innings

The Orioles started shaping up their 40 man roster for the Rule V draft (which occurs during the Winter Meetings in December in Las Vegas.) They sent five players to Triple-A Norfolk, the notable one being Randor Bierd, last year’s Rule V pick by the Orioles from the Tigers. Bierd finished with a 4.91 ERA in 36.1 innings. He was highly-effective until he got injured, pitching to a 2.03 ERA. He took a 3.60 ERA into September when he came back from the DL, however like all Orioles players that month, Bierd stumbled at the finish line.

Bierd does need seasoning this year in the minors, but he still has a live arm, pitching to a 10+ K/9 in 2007. On an aside this year’s Rule V draft wasn’t too exciting. I thought Bierd was a good find, however the player who made the best impact was Wesley Wright, a solid member of the Astros’ bullpen. And like most people I thought Brian Barton and R.A. Dickey would have made larger impacts than they did.

On to Loewen, his career as a pitcher is over. He was the fourth overall pick in the 2002 draft by the Orioles, who gave him a major league deal for about 4MM one year in college. Granted this didn’t turn out as well as they had hoped, and hopefully the same fate won’t happen to Brian Matusz, who also received a major league deal. Granted Joe Jordan wasn’t the Director of Scouting back then… any ways Loewen can always come back as a hitter. He might catch fire and do what Rick Ankiel is doing. The Orioles can always sign him to a minor league deal, however he’ll have to pass through waivers first. I’m not sure if any team will ween interest in him.

Loewen finishes his pitching career with a 8-8, 5.38 record in parts of three seasons. (Photo: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)